Start your welding journey with confidence. This category breaks down the core principles, terminology, and techniques every welder needs to know. From understanding different welding processes (MIG, TIG, Stick) to learning about safety gear, joint types, and basic equipment setup, you’ll find step-by-step guides designed to build a strong foundation—whether you’re a complete beginner or brushing up on the fundamentals.
One of the trickiest jobs I’ve had in the shop was figuring out how to repair rusted metal with holes without making the damage worse. Rust eats away at the metal thickness until you’re left with weak, thin spots that…
One of the first joints I learned to weld in the shop was the butt joint, and at the time I didn’t realize how important it would be in real-world fabrication. Whether you’re running MIG on mild steel, TIG on…
I burned through a thin stainless plate because I had my amperage set way too high—nothing teaches you faster than watching your carefully prepped joint turn into a mess. Like most welders, I quickly learned that getting a strong, clean…
I had to calculate fillet weld strength for a project — staring at a t-joint with uneven metal thickness, wondering if my MIG welds would actually hold under load. Fillet welds might look simple, but getting their strength right is…
One of the first challenges I ran into as a new welder was figuring out the maximum fillet weld size for plate thickness. I once laid down a heavy bead on 1/4″ plate, thinking more filler metal meant a stronger…
One of the biggest lessons I picked up early in the shop was realizing that a weld can look perfect on the surface yet fail the moment real stress is applied. That’s where understanding how to calculate weld strength becomes…
A welder’s daily work goes far beyond just striking an arc. From the moment the torch fires up, every step matters — prepping joints, fitting metal, selecting the right filler rods, and deciding whether MIG, TIG, or stick is the…
When I first started welding, one of the biggest challenges I ran into wasn’t striking an arc — it was figuring out which process to use. Should I go with MIG for speed, TIG for precision, stick welding for versatility,…
Ever tried running solid MIG wire on a piece of dirty, painted, or thick steel only to watch the welds sputter and fail to penetrate? That’s a common frustration—and it’s exactly why flux-cored wire exists. Packed with flux in the…
Setting up an oxy-acetylene torch can feel tricky at first—get the pressures wrong and you’ll either end up with a noisy, unstable flame or a sooty mess that ruins your weld. That’s where an oxy-acetylene welding pressure settings chart becomes…